Andrea Fulerton – Petrol in Water

I have never had as many compliments on my manicure as I have when I wore this last week, I have to say it’s a very strong contender for my nail varnish of the year! I’ve featured the Andrea Fulerton Colour Layering System before, but the Petrol in the Water combination is by far the one to beat.

Each “system” comes with an opaque base polish, and a sheerer layering topcoat, and you can apply them in various combinations for the best effect. Petrol in Water looks like a dull brown with a glittery topcoat in the box:

In fact, I’d seen it in store several times, and just passed over it, as I have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to brown polish. But, even on its own, this is a glorious shade, I discovered:

A rich chocolate shade, shot through with gold, I’d like a bottle of this on its own, for it is beautiful. Above you can see two coats of each the brown and the white, and you can see just how completely the shades transform when layered (two coats of brown with one of white on top). It’s amazing, a blue-teal duochrome, which shades to purple, with hints of gold when the light hits it right. No topcoat was used in this pic.

It looks a bit frosty here, which it’s not ordinarily, but it does show off some of the colour change. It’s one of those shades that looks lit from within, and you can spend many a happy hour (where you should be concentrating on meetings, say), just staring at your nails and watching the colours change.

On me, this wore exceptionally well, too, all the pics on this post were taken after around three or four days of wear, and it wasn’t until the fifth that there was major damage, and even then I was loath to take it off! There is nothing particularly special about the brush, which is an old-style round brush with squared off ends, no Pro-Wide or flat bristles going on here, and there’s an argument that the dual-bottle style means the brush is a little off-balance when you’re applying, but these are minor quibbles compared to the ease of application with the thin polish, and the truly excellent wear.